China has great renewable resources to explore. So far, much has been done to promote wind power, with some of the world’s largest wind power farms being currently constructed in china. Solar thermal energy is well established and widespread. But, until recently, China’ s policy towards Photo-Voltaic was more reluctant in regard to domestic power generation, despite being the world’ s biggest manufacturer. 95% of high quality solar panels are produced for export. Yet “2009 could be the year of solar power in China“, as Julian Wong (Center of American Progress, Washington D.C.) put it.

State-run China Daily reported last week that China will generate 15% power from renewable sources by 2020, and National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) vice-chairman Zhang Xiaoqiang told reporters in London even 20% could be reached. That would match European targets…

Until recently P.V. was considered too expensive for domestic use, but now there are several good reasons for China to change its policy:

• low production costs generally
• decrease in international demand
• companies such as Suntech cutting profits and selling 30% cheaper
• concerns about energy security and generation safety
• widespread concerns about climate change

Many see this as the biggest boost for solar power up to date. Sun Qin, deputy director of the National Energy Administration, expects an announcement of revised targets for power generation, that, if approved, will de facto mean a 50% increase of the 2007 targets.

The promotion package for P.V. will include a proposal for a billions-of-pounds incentive for rooftop panels and solar farms. That’s a milestone for Chen Dongmei from the WWF China office. China already has a subsidy of about $3 per Watt for P.V. systems larger than 50 kW fixed on building roofs. A new feed-in tariff should be another incentive for investment.

In fact solar electricity could be a key factor for China’s modern generation of power. It’s a country of many vast desserts where no farming is possible. Would 1/3 to 1/2 of this area be covered with P.V. panels, even at a 10% degree of efficiency it could produce all the electricity China requires. The first such major desert farm linked to the grid is currently in the Wuwei area. Many other ’sunshine regions’ such as Gansu and Inner Mongolia have large farms under construction.

Right now China is still coal dependent, with conventional energy still being around ten times cheaper than solar power. Yet the price of silicone based panels will continue to fall, and its likely solar prices can reach grid parity with coal fired power in 2020.

Today China generates about 1,5% power from renewable sources (without hydro-power), and about 2% from nuclear power. Even with the ambitious targets set now, China will most likely remain dependent on coal for the next two decades and therefore continue to be the world’s biggest emitter of CO_2.